Oekaki Moderator Applications NOW CLOSED, selecting staff

[lavender & lilac;;]

APPLICATON

What date did you register as a CS member?: (if it's less than 6 months ago, do not apply)
Thu Dec 08, 2011 10:23 pm
How many posts have you made in the forum (at the time of applying): (if it's less than 300, do not apply)
460
How many days a week do you usually visit CS?
I usually get on everyday.
How many hours per day do you usually spend on CS, on a day that you do visit?
At least 3 hours
Have you moderated on any other forums before? If so, please link to them
No, I haven't
Have you ever used the CS oekaki to draw?
Yes
Do you ever spend much time browsing the oekaki board just to look at the art posted there?
Yes
Why do you want to be an oekaki moderator for CS?
I enjoy being helpful and I would like to make CS safer for younger kids.
Can you think of any particular skills you can bring to the position (this is not required) (for example have you had any experience in peer mediation? Have you had a ton of experience using the oekaki program?)
I have used to Oekaki program and though I am not the best artist I know the features quite well.

[Zalia]

APPLICATON

1.What date did you register as a CS member?: (if it's less than 6 months ago, do not apply)

I applied 9 months 3 weeks and 3 days ago , so, May/05/2012

2.How many posts have you made in the forum (at the time of applying): (if it's less than 300, do not apply)

about 3318

3.How many days a week do you usually visit CS?

I visit every day of the week for atleast 7 hours, if i am busy atleast 4.

4.How many hours per day do you usually spend on CS, on a day that you do visit?

4 to 7 hours

5.Have you moderated on any other forums before? If so, please link to them

No, this would be my first time doing this type of thing, But I am sure that I could take control if someone was aruguing or bullying, I am a calm type of person.

6.Have you ever used the CS oekaki to draw?

Yes, But sadly, I am not the best digital art drawer. So if I don't have many drawings, that would be why.

7.Do you ever spend much time browsing the oekaki board just to look at the art posted there?

yes, I comment on a couple when I can. I usually check out the newer oekaki users, Just to give them encouragment.

8.Why do you want to be an oekaki moderator for CS?

I know that i would be able to stay calm in an argument and if things got out of hand I would surely lock the thread. But that would only be my last resort. Another reason would be because I adore digital art. Even if I am not very good at it myself. I love to see other people's art and I expecially love their teqniques.

9.Can you think of any particular skills you can bring to the position (this is not required) (for example have you had any experience in peer mediation? Have you had a ton of experience using the oekaki program?)

I haven't had much experience with Digital drawing, but I do know how to handle a situation if it gets out of hand. I know how to use most of the tools on the oekaki as well, even if I can't do digital art as well as most. I haven't been on CS as long as most people but I still know how to handle an argument, or if someone is breaking the rules I can alway's help. I see that a lot of people are filling out forms and I wish you the best of luck in choosing your next oekaki moderators!

[Loenna]

What date did you register as a CS member?: (if it's less than 6 months ago, do not apply)

I registered on Monday May 18th 2009

How many posts have you made in the forum (at the time of applying): (if it's less than 300, do not apply)

as of this post, I have posted 8119 times. I do not role play though, 1230 of these posts are oekaki drawings.

How many days a week do you usually visit CS?

Every single day! (I only go on holiday once in a blue moon)

How many hours per day do you usually spend on CS, on a day that you do visit?

On an average day I am on for about 6 hours, from the minute I get home from school to the moment I go to bed.

Have you moderated on any other forums before? If so, please link to them

I am currently a chat moderator for Lumirett's a species founded here on CS.

Have you ever used the CS oekaki to draw?

1230 times and have posted in most boards.

Do you ever spend much time browsing the oekaki board just to look at the art posted there?

Yes, I love scrolling through the intermediate oekaki forum and just looking at the beautiful pictures. I also love looking in the other forums too of course!

Why do you want to be an oekaki moderator for CS?

I have always wanted to be a mod for CS, and out of every single job that opens an Oekaki moderator is always the one I have my heart set on as I am a massive fan of oekaki. I am not talented at art by any means but I enjoy drawing whatever comes to mind. I would take my job very seriously and I will not struggle with it. it would be great fun too and I would be honored to be a member of the respected CS staff.

Can you think of any particular skills you can bring to the position (this is not required) (for example have you had any experience in peer mediation? Have you had a ton of experience using the oekaki program?)

I have had a lot of experience using Oekaki, I can also be calm when dealing with a sticky situation.


thank you <3

[nivvin]

What date did you register as a CS member?:

I registered as a Chicken Smoothie member on August 30th, 2008 at 7:08 pm

How many posts have you made in the forum (at the time of applying):

17,830

How many days a week do you usually visit CS?:

Seven Days a week

How many hours per day do you usually spend on CS, on a day that you do visit?:

Seven or more hours a day, unless I'm extremely busy and don't have the time to connect for long, which usually isn't often.

Have you moderated on any other forums before? If so, please link to them:

Yes, but they were simple little proboards forums that didn't get much attention and died rather quickly.

Have you ever used the CS oekaki to draw?:

Yes, I'm quite interested in art and have a tablet of my own that I often use on the oekaki boards.

Do you ever spend much time browsing the oekaki board just to look at the art posted there?:

Yes, quite frequently. I tend to browse through the Sketches and Most Popular sections, though I will go all over the boards and just look through the art.

Why do you want to be an oekaki moderator for CS?:

I have always loved art and using the Oekaki boards, I would love the chance to help out and be a moderator for those forums. Chicken Smoothie is a family website, and I would like to help keep all of the inappropriate pictures from the boards, as I see lots of younger children drawing on them frequently.

Can you think of any particular skills you can bring to the position (this is not required) (for example have you had any experience in peer mediation? Have you had a ton of experience using the oekaki program?):

I have been using the Oekaki program on Chicken Smoothie for a long time, so I know how it works and would be able to help someone if they ever had any difficulties with using it. I don't have a lot of peer mediation experience, but there have been situations when I've had to look at things from both points of view and try to come to a decision. I've been a member of Chicken Smoothie for quite a while, and I know how the forums are operated.

[stoatkiss]

What date did you register as a CS member?: March 9, 2012
How many posts have you made in the forum (at the time of applying): 1486
How many days a week do you usually visit CS? 5-7
How many hours per day do you usually spend on CS, on a day that you do visit? 1-2
Have you moderated on any other forums before? If so, please link to them Not yet
Have you ever used the CS oekaki to draw? Yes, I use it all the time
Do you ever spend much time browsing the oekaki board just to look at the art posted there? Yes, almost every day
Why do you want to be an oekaki moderator for CS? I sometimes see people posting spam art (e.g. a blank canvas - I've seen it!) and I think it should be stopped. It's unnecessary to fill the oekaki boards with clones of the exact same thing over and over again.
Can you think of any particular skills you can bring to the position? I have a lot of experience using the oekaki program and I find it hard to take sides. Acting without bias is a strong point for me.

[Harpalyce]

Please note that I do not expect to get this position. However, I'm still posting an application because I think my ideas of how to overhaul the oekaki boards would be intensely useful. PLEASE TAKE MY IDEAS FOR YOUR OWN APPLICATIONS! Seriously. PLEASE.

What date did you register as a CS member?:

Jan. 27, 2011.

How many posts have you made in the forum (at the time of applying):

5679

How many days a week do you usually visit CS?

6 days a week. Perhaps more like 6.75/week when averaged out throughout a month. I usually keep the tab open but there are occasional days I am busy with other things.

How many hours per day do you usually spend on CS, on a day that you do visit?

I usually keep it open in a tab among my many tabs to check regularly (tumblr, facebook, gmail, etc). I would estimate about an hour a day of actually staring at the website but this is broken up in lots of 5-15 minute periods to see if anything requires my attention.

Have you moderated on any other forums before?

Held positions in some roleplaying forums that are now, alas, long gone. I am a founding officer of my World of Warcraft friends-and-family guild Farstriders.

Have you ever used the CS oekaki to draw?

Yes.

Do you ever spend much time browsing the oekaki board just to look at the art posted there?

On occasion, yes.

Why do you want to be an oekaki moderator for CS?

Aah, and now we get to the meatiest, juiciest, most delicious part of the whole application.

There are problems crying out to be fixed. I want to help fix them.

The first and most dire problem in my mind is the lack of firm standards. The difference between an intermediate and beginner's piece seems to be nebulous and varies from moderator to moderator. But Harpalyce, you might say, art is subjective! Well, yes, it is - in part. But there are technical aspects that can be looked at from an objective standpoint. After all, you get a grade in art class, and it depends on a whole lot more than just whether or not the teacher likes you.

By making these standards clear and transparent, not only will people using the oekaki have better goals to work towards, but there will be a lot less arguments of people trying to mini-mod or people claiming that one mod favors them over another. A clear rubric will make things a lot easier on everyone involved.

What I propose for the transparent standards are thus -

For an oekaki to be in intermediate, it must demonstrate the majority of the following:

> A clear understanding of anatomy/proportion.
> Clean lineart or, if lineless, clearly defined subject of the oekaki through value and tone
> An understanding of tone and color - not paint-bucket-filled lineart with ‘white fuzzies’ on the inside
> Awareness of composition
> Clear subject matter (e.g., you can tell what it is)

These are all things that can be relatively standardized and subjectively considered. And all of these things you can clearly work towards as a goal. You can find and link to tutorials about all of these things, and you can find definitions for them on wikipedia.

My first proposal is to put these standards up on all oekaki boards, linking to 1) the wikipedia entry explaining what is being looked at, 2) a tutorial explaining the basics of these things, and 3) an example of a popular oekaki that demonstrates this clearly.

Information and clarity will ultimately lead to fewer arguments.

Along with the rubric, I think it would be appropriate to clarify rules about blood/gore/nudity and link to some example oekaki pieces that are 'high water marks'. In other words, point to things that have already been done and say 'anything more than this is too much'. I for one am confused about how this rule seems to be applied unevenly and would welcome the chance to make sure we have things on the level.

The second thing I would like to put on every oekaki board - or at least the Intermediate board, where critique is specifically encouraged - is a sticky explaining how to make a 'critique sandwich'. ('Bread' of things you like around the 'meat' of something you think could be improved.) Right now much of the intermediate board seems to be allergic to critique, when critique is one of the specific things that makes the intermediate board different from beginner's.

Along with featured oekaki, I'd like to have a thread that showcases a featured critique of the week as encouragement to foster this artistic community.

The oekaki and artistic community that comes with it is part of what makes ChickenSmoothie truly unique among virtual pet sites. It's a good time to foster this in earnest.

While those are two major changes, I would also like to propose a slew of minor changes.

Among them would be a discussion about the originality of species, as a lot of intermittent ugliness pops up along those lines. There needs to be a general acknowledgement that two people can have similar base ideas without copying each other - e.g., 'I wanted to make a thing kinda like a wolf'. If people make two 'things like wolves', of course they're going to look similar, but it does not mean that some sort of villainous copycatting behavior has gone on, and it is NOT a call for a witch-hunt as so often happens. Similarly, putting a thing in armor is not an original idea and simply putting something in armor is not grounds for declaring someone a copycat or getting nasty towards them.

I'd also like to see a ten-minute minimum on the Beginners and Intermediate oekaki boards. I think this would cut down on some 'mindless' doodling. There aren't terribly many things under ten minutes on either board but having the minimum there is a strong statement that we expect people to try their best when putting things on those boards instead of just tossing off a five-minute doodle. That's what the Sketches and Experiments board is for, after all.

As long as we are discussing changes to structure of the boards, I think a sub-set of either Sketches and Experiments or Editables devoted entirely to redlines would be a fantastic addition. The ability to edit onto someone else's drawing already makes these boards suited to this idea, I just think that all of these redlines need a 'proper home'.

The oekaki needs an overhaul. Putting a little work up-front will make things much, much smoother for mods to come and can prevent future messes. I think it's very much worth the time and effort.

Can you think of any particular skills you can bring to the position (this is not required) (for example have you had any experience in peer mediation? Have you had a ton of experience using the oekaki program?)

I don't know if my minor notoriety and infamy is a plus or a minus here. Probably a minus, actually. But yes, my skill is Being Harpalyce, take that as you will.

[Fancy Cat.]

1.What date did you register as a CS member?: November, 8th 2010

2.How many posts have you made in the forum (at the time of applying): 3,420

3.How many days a week do you usually visit CS?: Everyday

4.How many hours per day do you usually spend on CS, on a day that you do visit?: 1-3 on weekdays and 3-7 on weekends :3

5.Have you moderated on any other forums before? I think so, but I don't remember

6.Have you ever used the CS oekaki to draw?: Yup, I've done 211 drawings on the oekaki

7.Do you ever spend much time browsing the oekaki board just to look at the art posted there?: Oh yes, I love to look at all the art that people post there. I do it all the time :D

8.Why do you want to be an oekaki moderator for CS?: I think it would be a fun thing to do. I love art and I would love to help you guys out. I vist the oekaki all the time everyday just to see the new art people post. I would be honored to be part of the CS team. I've filled out many applications before and didn't make it. This is one of my dreams here on CS

9.Can you think of any particular skills you can bring to the position (this is not required) (for example have you had any experience in peer mediation? Have you had a ton of experience using the oekaki program?)
I know how most things work on oekaki, and if there were any arguments I would stay calm and try to work things out. I don't get mad at people very easily and I'm super nice c:

Good luck everybody :3

[plum]

(i actually didnt take the idea(s) in this form harpalyce's form but i think we were 'inspired'(wrong word) by the same thing
so yeah)

1.What date did you register as a CS member?:

13 September 2009

2.How many posts have you made in the forum (at the time of applying):

7020

3.How many days a week do you usually visit CS?

7 days a week

4.How many hours per day do you usually spend on CS, on a day that you do visit?

About 5-6 hours, even if I have homework.
I am also able to get on at school, at lunch and in my computer-based classes.

5.Have you moderated on any other forums before? If so, please link to them

I have only moderated a few roleplay sites that are dead and gone. So, take that as a no. :>

6.Have you ever used the CS oekaki to draw?

Yes, I use it very often! Sometimes I churn out 4-5 drawings a day. :>

7.Do you ever spend much time browsing the oekaki board just to look at the art posted there?

Yup! Before I start drawing something I like to go through a few pages of the board I'm posting in, and in my computer classes when I can't draw but have free time I might even go through about 5 pages of each board.

8.Why do you want to be an oekaki moderator for CS?

I would like to take on this responsibility for many reasons. I would like to help make the oekaki boards more 'standardized' - making a specific set of standards for what seperates Beginner's from Intermediate. I understand that this would not be the only part of the job and I realize I will have to deal with lots of people, from wonderful artists to the unhappy folks who I would have to give warnings out to. I believe I can do this.
CS is a site that I love and am on constantly, even though being staff is stressful occasionally, it would be wonderful to be able to help out more than the average user.

9.Can you think of any particular skills you can bring to the position?

Despite my warning history(which I hope would not stop you from considering my application), I know this site's rules very well, including being familiar with many of the site's infamous 'ghost rules'. Meaning I wouldn't have to run around to make sure something is against the rules, I could deal with it as soon as I saw it.
I have been using the oekaki for a while and I know how to use it well. It is a simple program but people are bound to have problems I have already solved myself, so of course I would be able to lend a hand.
I would also like to point out that I can get upset quickly, especially if something hits a nerve(i'm only human), however I know when I'm getting upset and I can step away for a minute and calm down. Unfortunately this is not very apparent on CS, rather it is more visible on the reptile forums I am on where opinions are challenged CONSTANTLY and people don't care about hurting feelings of someone for the welfare of their reptile.

I know I do not have the best or "cleanest" history on the site, but I assure you, I am serious about this, I am not putting forth effort into this form "just because".

[Dragon Attack]

What date did you register as a CS member?: May 5th, 2012

How many posts have you made in the forum (at the time of applying): 1,563

How many days a week do you usually visit CS? 7 days a week, and rarely less than that.

How many hours per day do you usually spend on CS, on a day that you do visit? I sometimes just go on, name my pets or dress one up, and leave. But mostly I PM, post on forums, and draw on oekaki; which takes 2+ hours.

Have you moderated on any other forums before? If so, please link to them

Have you ever used the CS oekaki to draw? Yes

Do you ever spend much time browsing the oekaki board just to look at the art posted there? Yes, I browse some drawings before using the oekaki.

Why do you want to be an oekaki moderator for CS? I'd like to be an oekaki moderator so I could give something in exchange for everything the staff did for us. It's not much, but it would be a nice thing to do. And sometimes using the computer becomes boring, so it would be handy to use that extra time on the computer to "extra moderate" the forums.

Can you think of any particular skills you can bring to the position (this is not required) (for example have you had any experience in peer mediation? Have you had a ton of experience using the oekaki program?)

[Bell.]

What date did you register as a CS member?:
Mon May 02, 2011 6:45 pm
How many posts have you made in the forum (at the time of applying):
1118
How many days a week do you usually visit CS?
4 or 5.
How many hours per day do you usually spend on CS, on a day that you do visit?
I usually spend most of my time on CS, so.....
Have you moderated on any other forums before? If so, please link to them
Nope.
Have you ever used the CS oekaki to draw?
Yes, I love to use it when can. ^^
Do you ever spend much time browsing the oekaki board just to look at the art posted there?
Yes, I love seeing the wonderful drawings that other people make. ^^
Why do you want to be an oekaki moderator for CS?
I would LOVE to be an oekaki moderator, because I do spend alot of time on CS, and it would be such an honor to become part of the CS staff. <3 ^^
Can you think of any particular skills you can bring to the position (this is not required) (for example have you had any experience in peer mediation? Have you had a ton of experience using the oekaki program?)
-